1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to coffee making machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many proposals are available for making batches of coffee, often one or two cups at a time, by mixing hot water and coffee grounds. It is important for the flavour of the coffee produced to control the temperature and the time that the grounds are in association with the hot water in the machine. Normally, hot water is simply dripped or poured into an open top of a container containing coffee grounds and the coffee collected from a bottom out flow port of the container. The xe2x80x98mixingxe2x80x99 time is not controllable at all, or easily controllable. That is, at present there is virtually no control or ready adjustability in the available coffee making machines.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or at least reduce this problem.
According to the invention there is provided a coffee making machine into which a quantity of hot water is arranged to be supplied into a vessel, an open topped filter basket containing a measure of coffee grounds supported in the vessel, including a re-circulating flow passage connected between a bottom of the vessel and a top of the basket, a heater for heating the coffee in the flow passage, an electric pump for pumping coffee through the flow passage to the top of the basket, and control means arranged to control operation of the heater.
The control means may be arranged to dispense specific quantities hot water to the top of the vessel.
The electric pump may be an in-line pump mounted in a hot water delivery pipe forming the re-circulating flow passage.